SOX Magnifies Corp Communications Profile

January 29, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - More than eight out of 10 corporate communications professionals agree that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has changed the nature of their jobs.

The change for the 86% of all corporate communications professionals come as more companies have made the communications departments a more integrated and component of the executive team, research data from KRC Research shows.   In fact, during the past year, corporate communications executives dealt with issues associated with management and corporate governance with greater frequency than with issues such as labor disputes, product recalls or environmental infractions, according to the report issued by public relations management firm Weber Shandwick.

Most prevalent among the survey group are the 81% that report addressing issues regarding government regulation in the last year while more than two-thirds dealt with issues associated with a lawsuit against their company (69%).   More than one out of five (22%) had to publicly address allegations of improper behavior by a senior manager.

On the other hand, only 32% addressed a strike or labor dispute over the past year, the same number the tackled an environmental problem.   Even fewer (11%) had to deal with a consumer boycott.  

With all this work it comes as little surprise that 82% of the executives polled said their job has become at least somewhat more difficult.

A copy of the complete The Corporate Reputation Insider report can be found at  www.webershandwick.com .

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